Qatar, China, Russia, and Iran are pouring resources into a propaganda machine built to isolate Israel and fracture its alliance with the United States.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, our own response too often looks like a dozen well-meaning organizations shouting into the wind, each with its own slogans, its own hashtags, its own outdated website.<\/p>\n
There is one country that has been fighting successfully on the 8th front, and that is Taiwan<\/a>, a country very similar to ours \u2013 a small democracy in a very hostile region. Taiwan has important lessons for Israel to fight propaganda and disinformation on the 8th front.\u00a0<\/p>\n At our recent \u201cMiddle East Summit\u201d in Jerusalem, Ambassador Abby Lee, head of the Taiwan Mission to Israel, described disinformation as a \u201csmokeless bullet.\u201d You don\u2019t feel it strike. There\u2019s no bullet hole, but it accumulates: quietly eroding a society\u2019s trust in its institutions, its allies, and eventually in itself. Unlike a bullet, it leaves no broken glass. It just leaves a population that no longer can recognize what is true.<\/p>\n Taiwan has lived with this threat far longer than Israel has taken it seriously. Facing an estimated 2.5 million cyberattacks a day \u2013 many originating in China, some in Russia \u2013 Taipei didn\u2019t respond with scattered volunteer efforts.<\/p>\n Taiwan built a national infrastructure: a government rapid-response mechanism, systematic sharing of threat indicators, and a standing playbook for how China, Iran, and Russia coordinate disinformation campaigns against democracies.<\/p>\n Israeli leaders turn to Taiwan<\/p>\n Notably, Ambassador Lee revealed that Israeli lawmakers, security officials, and civil society leaders are already quietly turning to Taiwan for guidance on countering cognitive warfare. We are, in effect, already recognizing that Taiwan is ahead of us. The question is whether we\u2019re prepared to actually learn from it.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s problem on the eighth front isn\u2019t primarily a numbers problem, and it certainly isn\u2019t a talent problem. Israel has no shortage of brilliant advocates, good-looking influencers, and viral moments. What it lacks is a state-backed system.<\/p>\n![\"Ya-Ping](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/602447.jpeg\"\/)
Ya-Ping (Abby) Lee, Taiwan\u2019s representative in Israel. (credit: Courtesy Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Tel Aviv)<\/p>\n